After recording less than 30,000 cases since last Friday, Kerala today registered 30,196 new Covid-19 infections, pushing the caseload in the state to 42,83,494. The southern state also reported 181 deaths, which took the total fatalities till now to 22,001.

The Test Positivity Rate (TPR), which was witnessing a gradual decline and had dipped below 16 per cent, rose to 17.63 per cent on Wednesday after testing 1,71,295 samples in a span of 24 hours. With this, 3,28,41,859 samples have been tested till now, the release said.

The government bulletin also said that since Tuesday, 27,579 people recovered from Covid-19 taking the total number to 40,21,456 and the number of active cases to 2,39,480. 

Among the 14 districts, Thrissur recorded the highest number of cases with 3,832 followed by Ernakulam (3,611), Kozhikode (3,058), Thiruvananthapuram (2,900), Kollam (2,717), Malappuram (2,580), Palakkad (2,288), Kottayam (2,214), Alappuzha (1,645), Kannur (1,433), Idukki (1,333) and Pathanamthitta (1,181), the statement added. 

Of the new infections,130 were health workers, 190 from outside the state and 28,617 infected through contact, with the source of the contact not being clear in 1,259 cases. At present, there are 6,08,228 people under surveillance in various districts, of whom 5,75,411 are in home or institutional quarantine and 32,817 in hospitals.

Meanwhile, the Kerala government has decided to set up a Vaccine Production Zone at the Life Science Park here, with a special package for anchor industries setting up units.

The decision to set up the exclusive zone for vaccine production at the park at nearby Thonnakkal was taken at the cabinet meeting chaired by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

Vijayan, in a statement, said a special package will be sanctioned to anchor industries that are ready to start vaccine production units at the park. He also announced land lease for 60 years with a subsidy of 50 per cent in the lease premium.